GCU advances 3 on 1st day of NCAA 1st Round

Photo by: Brendan Maloney

5/28/2025 8:36:00 PM | Track and Field

Wilmington, McCartney qualify for Friday in 400 hurdles; Rosario advances in 200

By: Josh Hauser

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Grand Canyon advanced three athletes in their events on the first day of the NCAA West First Round at E.B. Cushing Stadium on Wednesday.

The meet's opening day featured preliminary rounds of non-relay men's track events. Each event includes 48 entries with the top half advancing to Friday's action, where a top-12 finish would send athletes to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Two Lopes advanced from the 400-meter hurdles in senior Cam Wilmington and graduate Daviciea McCartney. The duo finished within hundredths of a second of one another, with Wilmington logging an eighth-place finish at 50.04 seconds and McCartney finishing in ninth at 50.09 seconds.

Those performances placed Wilmington and McCartney comfortably inside the top-24 advancement requirement, and replicating their placings would lead to both punching tickets to Eugene. The 400-meter hurdle quarterfinals will be held Friday at 4:50 p.m. (Phoenix time).

GCU junior sprinter Miguel Rosario III also earned another round of competition with a mark of 20.76 in the 200 to place 15th. Rosario will run in the Friday quarterfinals at 5:50 p.m. (Phoenix time), needing to finish at least three spots higher to advance to Eugene.

Four Lopes on the women's side will get their meet underway on Thursday. Senior Lucy George begins the javelin competition at 12:30 p.m. (Phoenix time). Senior Amanda Thrue will run the 100-meter hurdles at 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) with senior Aaliyah Rifort-Delem and junior Taliyah Booker running the 400 meters at 3:25 p.m. (Phoenix time).

Other successful seasons came to an end Wednesday on the men's side.

GCU junior Jacob Nash outperformed his seeding spot of 45th with a 60.45-meter javelin throw to finish 39th.

The Lopes did not advance any of their three participants in the 110-meter hurdles with sophomores Francisco Marques and Prosper Ekporere competing with Wilmington. Ekporere and Marques did not complete the race, while Wilmington's 14.15 placed 39th.

GCU senior Joshua Gittens outpaced his seeding spot of 48th with a 45th-place finish in the 400-meter run at 47.39. Junior teammate Germain Lemaitre was seeded 41st in the 800 but finished 30th with a mark of 1:49.31.